Today was the day that all the pickling is done for the season. I have been using a FORMIC ACID PICKLE for several weeks pickling 6 deer capes, one at a time, adding salt as required to maintain a 40-50% rate as well adding acid as required to maintain 2 PH.

Today I tried to neutralize the pickle with baking soda.

The bucket only had 5-6 gallon of solution.

I added 5 table spoons of BS and checked the ph .

It was still 3.

Left it sit for 30 minutes and still was 3 ph.

Dropped in a lb of BS and after an hour was still 3 ph.

Doubled up on the water still at 3ph dropped in a second 1 lb box of bs and still reading 3 ph.

The foam that rises on the solution has a ph 5-7 . But the solution after foam dies off is still 3 hp.

Does this sound right? Am I using Baking soda to neutralize a Doric acid pickle??

Today was the day that all the pickling is done for the season. I have been using a FORMIC ACID PICKLE for several weeks pickling 6 deer capes, one at a time, adding salt as required to maintain a 40-50% rate as well adding acid as required to maintain 2 PH.

Today I tried to neutralize the pickle with baking soda.

The bucket only had 5-6 gallon of solution.

I added 5 table spoons of BS and checked the ph .

It was still 3.

Left it sit for 30 minutes and still was 3 ph.

Dropped in a lb of BS and after an hour was still 3 ph.

Doubled up on the water still at 3ph dropped in a second 1 lb box of bs and still reading 3 ph.

The foam that rises on the solution has a ph 5-7 . But the solution after foam dies off is still 3 hp.

Does this sound right? Am I using Baking soda to neutralize a Doric acid pickle??

Yes I am disposing but should it be 10 lbs of bading soda. I read something on here by you Cyclone about wiping the hide and then squeezing out the liquid from the hide and testing that. I noticed last couple of hides I could feel the acid on my hands as I was mounting the capes. How well do you think it was tanned with a paint on tan. Bear essentials stuff? How long to neutralize the cape in the bath?

Acid wise it was at PH above 2 but below 3 . I use strips and they can be hard to read . It had been a couple days since I added any acid but if the pickle was to be used with the same hide I would have needed more formic acid to get it back down to 2.

Dont you mean, the tan you are using is sold from Orion Taxidermy Supply? Anyway, the tan isnt in question here.

Sounds to me, like you are adding acid to the same pickle, over and over again, while ATTEMPTING TO MEASURE SALT CONTENT. That is virtutally impossible without some type of professional water testing.

Salinometers are rendered USELESS after a pickle is used ONE time. The density of the water changes from, we'll just say, "skin trash". About the only thing you can do, is "guestimate", and add 1/4 lb per deer cape, that you remove from the pickle, before adding new ones. Skin sizes would dictate that "guestimation".

One very good reason no to re-use a pickle more than once. Shouldnt re-use at ALL!

To make a long story short, NO, you did NOT tan those capes, if they were still acidic. That type of tan, will only fix to collegen with a pH of 4.5 and HIGHER.

Cyclone also asked a very pertinent question though I know you don't know. What was the CONCENTRATION? Formic acid simply won't go below 2.0 and if you just kept pouring acid in trying to achieve that, it didn't happen. You did however, multiply the concentration if. I you've added that much baking soda and it hasn't completely neutralized, you must have used one helluva lot of acid.

Additionally, one has to be careful testing with strips. Put a drop of pickle solution onto the strip as opposed to dipping the strip in the pickle. Dipping can and will cause the indicator to leech out of the strips giving false readings.

This was the first time for me to reuse a pickle . Read about it on here all the time how pickles can be reused. Guess its a bad idea.Old shaver , I bought the tan from Sirius Taxidermy in Canada.In my neutralizing bath I did not add any salt. As for concentration . Started with a pink strip 2 hp and after 2 days 3 more ozs to 5 gallons size. It was just starting to raise 2.5 on the fourth day. I shaved the hide. and back in solution for 24 hrs Learning alot this [past week.

Not sure on the amount but before I placed hide in the used pickle I tested I added a glug from a 4 liter container to get the ph strip nice and pink where before it was not. A few days later i measured and added 3 oz. That was 2 glugs. For a new mix I would add 7.5 oz to 5 gallons. So right now I can assume that the 3 last hides are still acidic and not tanned properly. Can I just wash them to remove the paint on tan and neutralize them again and start over.?What is the plan?

Methinks your friggin pickle would glow in the dark if you turn the lights out. Seeing as how most pickles say use ONE HALF FLUID OUNCE PER GALLON OF WATER, I'd presume that a "glug" would be sufficient for about 120 gallons of water. This is what Cyclone has harped on for years: CONCENTRATION STRENGTH. Folic acid is going to read 2.0 pH regardless if it is completely pure or diluted with a ratio of 1:256 or .5: 128 as they suggest.

If that should be the case then I'd have to suspect either one or more of the following:

1. The pH strips that you are using are bad or you have no idea how to use them.2. The baking soda that you are using is somehow very impure or not baking soda at all. 3. You actually have no idea how much acid you added.4. You are joking and have wasted our time.